Jefferson’s Restaurant

Easily one of my favorite places to visit when looking for a nice downtown eatery that’s not too pretentious. I would recommend this place even on a game night if you can get a table. I have never received poor service and the food has always been pretty darn good as me and my family have left wanting to come back every time

Took 40 min to get food… after we asked for it. ²⁄₅ orders were wrong. Many tables that came in after is got their food before us. We even ordered kids food early so they could eat first. Guess it take 40 min for kids corn dog & burger.
Food came & it was not hot, obviously it had been ready. Next time guess I need to ask or go get it myself.
Might try it again, but really lost hope after the reopen!

Some people would say that you shouldn’t take food advice from the type of person that spends their free time writing reviews about restaurants but I write this review because I really, really want this place to be better. It’s got a nice vibe, friendly staff, cheap drinks, plenty of TVs and for that type of setup. it does well. But the food. the food is SO. BAD.
Now full disclosure, I’ve never gotten the wings which a lot of people say they’re good at doing so maybe that’s what I’m missing out on but the things I’ve ordered over the last handful of trips have been so bad that I felt compelled to sign up for a Unilocal acct to write a review. Why I’ve gone back more than once is because my friends like the cheap drinks and a place to watch a game.
I ordered an appetizer of cheese fries for our table and not only did they come out partially cold, but the cheese was somehow worse than the nacho cheese you get at movies and sporting events. It was as though they’d liquefied that kind of cheese you spray out of a can and heated it up. I don’t know how you mess this up. Just go buy some cheddar cheese in a bag from a grocery store and melt it on top of the fries. Would have been a hundred times better.
The burger I got was a mockery of a burger. Again, how do you screw these things up? No joke, I’d have been pissed if this was a dollar burger from McDonalds. It tasted as though it’d been sitting out to dry in the sun for an hour and that in turn made the flavor of everything just bleh.
I’m not a foodie or one to get off on putting people down but my hope is that this place turns itself around and just has decent bar food. I’m not asking for much here. I haven’t eaten at any of these places in years but if you went to Applebees or Chilis or whatever generic place like that. that’s the kind of food you should find at Jeffersons. But the food I got served here would seem poorly served out of a concession stand at a highschool football game in Podunk Town, TX. Jefferson’s is a chain so chances are, they can’t change anything about quality but man. I hope they step it up. As I type this, a commenter to the right brings up the crucial point that just 10, 20, 50 yards in different directions you have exponentially better food at the same price. The Burger Stand at The Casbah. Rudy’s. Ladybird Diner. La Parilla. Zen Zero. Granted these are food places of varying types so if you want bar food to watch a game. some of those restaurants aren’t qualifiers but I’d really, really just stick to drinking here. Quickly eat at one of the dozens of places on Mass and then head over for some cheap Coors but man. Jefferson’s. at least try a little.

Just a fraction of its former self. Burger was dry and the mushrooms we’re sad. Wings had no sauce, literally. Corn dogs and fries were fine. Ambience is still cool with the dollar walls building up again.

This my favorite restaurant. It is a fun casual place with fantastic wings. Our family goes there a couple times per month and I go with my girl friends for lunch often. They have great servers. Chelsey is the best server in town. Seriously. And we eat out all the time. Our boys drink gallons of lemonade and she must have refilled our drinks five times. Makes me happy when our drinks are constantly full and ice cold. My husband and I always get the medium buffalo wings. Our boys love the Mac and cheese bites and the hot dog basket. Saturday special is two hot dogs or corn dogs with fries for $ 5. Great deal for hungry boys. Love the fried pickles too. We use the front flip app to get free appetizers.
When we have out of town guests this is the place we go. Fun to decorate a dollar and pin on the wall. Great college town atmosphere and big screen tv’s all over. Get there early for lunch if you don’t want to wait.

The food is great, but the hygiene is bad. It’s your typical greasy American food. If you can accept a lot of grease and a bit of a wait then this is the place for you! Definitely try the fried pickles and corn nuggets!

I have lived in Lawrence for almost eight years now and have heard nothing but amazing things from Jeffersons. I finally got the chance to go a couple weekends ago with my family
We walk into the empty restaurant and we have no idea what to do. We awkwardly stand there as the waitresses lean and sit on the back counter and stare at us. Assuming we just take a seat after about 5 minutes, we walk to the back to grab a table near the waitress counter/​bar/​relaxation station. We were almost immediately presented with menus: the sticky, never-​been-​washed, everyone touches with their grimy greasy fingers type of menu. I didn’t even want to touch it.
We all ordered a beer and it came out quite nice and cold but after that our waitress simply disappeared. There had to be at least 5 others just holding walls up at the bar but ours vanished. We had to flag over another waitress to place our order.
When we got our food, I was really confused. I don’t understand the hype over frozen food thrown in a fryer. It was bar food. I can’t fathom why people are paying these prices for the same quality food you can buy in a frozen section at walmart.
My order was messed up 3 times, my mother got the completely wrong sandwich, my brother did not get his fries, and our appetizer was completely forgotten until we mentioned something when our waitress finally showed up… after the meal was completely over.
The guy at the table next to me had what I am assuming to be a mushroom swiss burger, but by looking at the 3 thinly sliced mushrooms placed on top of the obviously preformed frozen patty, I think he should have probably asked for his money back.
I won’t be back. There are SO many other places in town that actually put effort into cooking their food and value their customers. This place just serves greasy frozen bar food and you’ll be lucky to get the correct order the first time.
And for the love of that is holy, will someone please give the waitresses a lesson in customer service! It was agonizing to see them struggle through greeting awaiting customers who will be paying their wages. Maybe just relieve their suffering and hire people that care about their customers and aren’t a size 2 with huge boobs.

Grilled chicken salad. Chicken pieces very small bites, maybe3oz of chicken. Teryaki sauce is tasty on it, though there is no Romaine, its an all iceburg lettuce salad with shredded taco cheese…
Service is friendly though.

For the past year or so I have been promoting how much I absolutely love Jefferson’s. My Husband and I had a wonderful experience there last year and loved it. I’m not sure what has changed but last night changed our minds. Our server was rude, she screwed up our drink order and our appetizer. We asked her which oyster dish she enjoyed she scowled and said «I have no idea I don’t like oysters». Then when she told us the restaurant was completely out of all oysters other than the fried ones she refused to make any substitutions. When we decide to go elsewhere (after finding a half inch of grease at the bottom of our fried pickle basket) We tried to tip her and she said no you can keep that. With the same attitude she had been giving us the entire time. The saddest part is we took our friend and his wife there for his 65^th Birthday. We will not be back!

Average average. Being from Chicago i hold Yaktzes as the gold standard. These r dry and very little taste. Fries shrimp was dry. The beer was cold

I’ve lived in Lawrence for several years, but have just recently experienced Jefferson’s for the first time. I mean, when you’ve got Dempsey’s and The Burger Stand, who needs another burger joint? But, Jefferson’s is touted as a Lawrence classic, so I gave it a shot. Long story short, I was neither impressed nor pleased.
Upon entering, I awkwardly stood about not knowing if I should wait to be seated. Of course, several servers pass, none of which said a word, so I assumed it was a seat yourself situation. After posting up in a booth, I waited about five minutes before a server noticed my existence. At this point I am only mildly annoyed, but I give the staff the benefit of the doubt.
Now that I have the attention of a server, who was very nice and helpful I might add, despite her sometimes annoyed expressions, I order the corn nuggets and the Red Dog Days Double Cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. I receive the corn nuggets, some of which turn out to be quite cold on the inside. Now, I am annoyed, but assuming it is just a fluke.
Then comes the burger and fries. The burger looks like pretty standard bar food fare, which is exactly what I wanted. But, the quality of the meat in the burger was appalling. There were rather large chunks of gristle in almost every bite. The largest was nearly the size of a dime. I was disgusted. Then, to top it off, I found something strange nestled in my fries. At first I thought it was a dead spider, but upon closer examination, it looked like a small feather (like a down feather) that was in the oil and stuck to a fry.
I’ve never sent anything back in a restaurant, and I didn’t then, but I vow to never again eat at this establishment. I’ve never been so disgusted at a restaurant. I mean, how hard is it to cook when literally everything is fried and most likely came frozen in a bag? I didn’t expect much going into Jefferson’s, but I expected much better than what I received, especially for being a «Lawrence classic.» My advice? Stick with Dempsey’s and The Burger Stand.

Good stuff. On our way from IL to CO we stopped here for lunch. It was nice to get out of the car and walk around this cute downtown area.
I ordered a fried chicken salad with the addition of chopped boiled egg. The waitress was very nice to work out my special egg request and they didn’t charge an arm and a leg for it, either. The salad was good.
My husband ordered a philly cheesesteak with fries and it was delicious.
Great service.

A wall full of dollars. Great Lawrence original

Jefferson’s has been a staple for me when I went to college here and I was SO happy to hear it was back open. Got in (on a game day) and got a seat early. There were lots of people here for lunch, but we had GREAT service the entire time. I wish I remembered her name, cause this chick rocked! Food was great (their fried pickles are my ultimate favorite), beer was cold, atmosphere was fantastic. Made me miss my favorite little town even more than I already do!

This is a special Lawrence original that is known for mounting Dollar Bills on the wall with people’s added artwork on it, also known as defacing Federal Currency (Oh well)!
They have excellent dinner specials for Burgers, Wings and Chicken Fingers! Also highly recommend their Fried Mushrooms, Fried pickles and Corn Nuggets for appetizers!

We came here to eat before a concert. It was packed inside and out, but we were able to grab two seats at the bar. That is always a good thing, in my opinion. They had some televisions up, and we were able to watch the Royals game and the Chiefs preseason game simultaneously.
They have a great tap selection for a dive joint, with two Sam Adams, a few Boulevards, a Goose Island, and a couple of others. Their cooler was full of a variety of bottles, too.
The menu? Pretty good! If you are a wings fan, I would guess you’ll be in heaven here. They are huge, and they kept bringing plate after plate of them, so this is probably what they are known for. I ordered a steak philly with provolone and my usual jalapenos and mushrooms. The jalapenos were freshly sliced, as were the shrooms. No canned goods! The hoagie roll was perfectly fresh and soft without being mushy. Crinkle fries were cooked perfectly. BF got his usual grilled chicken and sweet potato fries, and everything disappeared from his plate with no complaints.
Service was stellar! The guy behind the bar was slammed, but as cool, calm, and attentive as he was, you never would’ve known it. I will be in Lawrence again next month and plan to return here.

Give these girls a shot of espresso or Red Bull. Jeezus… This is how I feel everytime I visit Jefferson’s. Has a place on Mass street ever garnered more hype than Jefferson’s? I mean hell, the University of Kansas Athletic Department for years wined & dined prospective athlete’s in Jefferson’s.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but what is all the fuss about? Frozen burger patties, frozen wings, frozen appetizers, and just about everything else on the menu sits in the deep freeze upon ordering. Different strokes for different folks. Not nasty by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing more than your typical bar type food.
Biggest beef is with the lackluster attitude of the staff. The Hookah bar is across the street and I’d expect this type of demeanor from their patrons (just kidding). But give me a freaking break already. The waitresses in particular move with no urgency and rarely crack a smile. Is life really that bad at Jefferson’s? Cheer up girls. Are your customers really that bad?
Overall, not a terrible place to visit at least once for newbies on Mass Street. Jefferson’s has a long history in Lawrence and I’ll cut them some slack for surviving the ever changing restaurant scene on Mass. Maybe try to mix in a few more fresh items on the menu and update the place a little.

For what it is, Jeffersons is great. Cheap pitchers of beer, good burgers, good wings and daily specials. They let me order off the kids menu which was nice :)
The fried pickles are really good and free with a «check in» offer. Everythings fried pretty much and it’s a great place to go if you just need something quick and hot to eat or it’s late and you want to start drinking downtown but need to eat something first. Service was quick and I like the dollar bills all over.
All in all decent bar food at a decent price.

This is the quintessential bar food place on Massachusetts. Yes, the service can be slow, and, if you arrive around the time of a KU sporting event, you are not going to get a place to sit, but if you are looking for reasonably-​priced and deliciously-​fried food, occasionally served in a slow and relaxed manner, this is the place for you.
With $ 0.45 wings on Sundays and Wednesdays and $ 5 burger baskets on Monday and Thursdays, there are food and drink specials daily and even non-​discounted food is reasonably priced. I love the corn nuggets (delicious dabs of cream corn, battered and fried, and served with honey mustard) and the fried pickles are also delicious. I think the wings are a little vinegary, but, according to my usual dining companions, they are very «meaty» and delectable.

Jefferson’s, rebooted.
The previous incarnation of Jefferson’s was always a favorite for watching a game, or a quick burger with family. The new Jefferson’s is a successor to the departed but beloved restaurant. The new management brought in training staff from one of the other locations, but the food is as it was before.
The inside still features thousands of «personalized» dollar bills that patrons have left over the years. As a condition of the acquisition of the restaurant, the new owners required that they be transferred with the property. They whole restaurants has had a face-​lift, with new fixtures and tables, a new bar, and upgraded televisions.
As usual, we started out with a basket of corn nuggets, and mac & cheese bites. These two little gems of the menu are some of my favorite parts of Jefferson’s. Corn nuggets are like miraculous breaded and fried spheres of creamed corn, served with honey mustard — sweet, tangy, and blazing hot out of the fryer. Mac & cheese bites are the familiar boxed mac & cheese, but pressed into wedges, battered, and fried, a delicious treat.
The wing sauce is a traditional vinegary-​hot-​sauce based concoction that will stain your hands a delightful shade of orange (as mine were on a trip to pick out wedding bands after a impromptu lunch at the old Jefferson’s several years ago).
Though Lawrence has now seen a Renaissance of hamburger restaurants, the Jefferson’s burgers are still solid. My wife loves the mushroom and Swiss burger, but the Jefferson’s burger is also quite tasty.